How to Restore File Type Associations in Windows 11

For each file in Windows, there is a file type associated with it. Windows opens these file types with applications that support opening them. Sometimes, you might want to open a file with a different application than the default one. If the chosen application doesn’t support opening the file and you don’t remember the default application that was used to open the file before, then you might be in trouble. In such cases, it is extremely important that you know how you can restore the file type associations.

Read on, to learn how you can easily restore the file type associations in Windows 11.



Steps to restore File type Associations

Step 1: Launch the Settings app by pressing the keys Win and I together.

In the left window pane, click on the Apps tab and in the right window pane, click on the tab Default apps.

 

1 Apps Default Apps Optimized

 

Step 2: Under the Default apps section, scroll all the way down and find the section Related settings.

As next, click on the button Reset against the option Reset all default apps. Click on the Ok button that comes in the small popup window.

 

2 Reset All Apps Optimized



 

That’s it. All your file type associations are now set to the default Microsoft file types that you initially had in your machine. Kindly note that this is applicable only to the current user account. If you would like to restore the file type associations of another user account, please repeat the same steps after signing into the user account for which you want to restore the file type associations.

Hope you found the article useful.